Monday, May 14, 2007

Quite depressing...

(Text added May 15): Even though the infusion of the deck went just as planned and the laminate looked perfect when the vacuum bag and the infusion consumables were removed, there are obviously a lot more to learn. And I have always been happy to learn new things. And I am happy to share my new knowledge. So here is what happened:

This infusion was only one side. The foam was covered only on the top side with fabric, peel ply, RDM etc and the spiral tubes ran approx 1 cm from the end. Loose bag so the fit was tight along the sides of the foam. The table was made out of IKEA furniture quality fibre board. Quite smooth and slippery surface. I did not direct my thoughts to the fact that much of the point with this vacuum technique is that every single little spot where there were ever air is filled with resin. Hence, bubbles is not a problem. But there are obviously others.

On the regular vacuum table I have a layer of vinyl floor. And I waxed it thoroughly the first times. And there were always a layer of fabric down to the table, not bare foam. Never had any issues with release. Figured this table was OK as well, and I was not supposed to infuse the underside anyway!

As I mentioned earlier, the laminate looked just perfect. I started to release it from the table in the bow section, and quite soon it seemed to be stuck to the table. It turned out the whole mid 2/3 of the deck was totally stuck. Tried to cut it loose, tried to get thin instruments in between in many ways. I finally realized that this part was lost. Had to rip off the fabric, had to use a lot of force, that's a good thing. I guess about 1/4 of the foam followed the laminate, the rest was stuck on the table. If it was all high density foam I think it would have been possible to get it off. It was not a very pretty sight:


Then I had to use a large 'chisel' (is that what it is called?) to get off the rest of the foam. It came off in quite small pieces. Quite a mess before everything was picked up. Allmost filled a big black plastic garbage bag.

4 comments:

Jay said...

Ouch -- that looks awful. Don't get discouraged though, this kind of thing can happen to anyone (comment based on my dismal past experience :)).

Did you wax the board a few times? I never had any release issues with my melamine board when bagging, but I did wax it the first 4-5 times before skipping that step. Maybe I was getting lucky because of that.

Jay

Ed said...

:(

What happened? Wouldn't release from the table? From the looks of the picture, there's no foam adhered to the laminate that was pulled away. Quite curious.

Try to not get too discouraged by it.

Tor Rabe said...

Thanks, guys!

I will fill in the posts as soon as I can make it a priority.

Yes, the foam got stuck, what is missing on the table is still with the fabric.
My fault, didn't wax. Don't on the other table either, but I did in the beginning.

The table is sanded down and I have laid on a new surface on (from vinyl floor). Will wax thoroughly.

All new stringers and corresponding reinforcements are cut. Half of the foam are cut and.

I couldn't allow my self to be depressed. Just fix it as soon as possible;-)

Tor

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